Events

Piper baseball #4 in first NCAA regional rankings

The Hamline University baseball team broke into the NCAA Midwest Regional rankings for the first time in program history, debuting at #4, as the NCAA released the first list of the season.

A pair of schools from the WIAC - UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point - sit at first and second in the region. Whitewater holds the #9 spot while Stevens Point is #12 in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll that was released on Monday.

Behind the Pipers in fifth is St. Scholastica, ranked #10 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25, followed by St. Olaf, who dropped out of the Top 25 this week.

The Pipers vaulted into the regional rankings with a key non-conference, but regional, sweep of Luther College last week. They carry a 9-3 mark in conference play heading into today's pair of games at Saint John's and have won 13 of their last 16 games.

Hamline has several players ranked highly in the national statistics lists. The NCAA ranks the top 150 players in each individual statistical category.

Tony Rogers is second in the nation in triples per game (0.27 per game) and is fifth in total triples (seven).

"Taking one for the team," Andy Powell is third in hit by pitch per game (0.65) and is seventh in total times hit (17). Jordan Buck's five sacrifice flies put him at 23rd overall in that category, while Cory Miller is 40th in sacrifice bunts (seven) and Powell is 75th (six).

Powell is also 75th in runs per game (1.15) while Buck is 94th in walks per game (0.73).

On the mound, Cass Kreitlow is 114th in wins with five and Brett Bugielski's three saves (all in key MIAC games) put him 98th.

As a team, Hamline's pitching staff is 43rd in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings (2.98). UW-Oshkosh leads that category with 1.87 walks per nine innings.